Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 199 Lying Corpse in the Street
Su Changying was not surprised.

He trusted Zhou Zhao's judgment. Dai Changming's sudden death and the whereabouts of the minted coins were unknown. This matter was most likely related to the traitors of the previous dynasty.

He glanced indifferently at Silver Ring beside him, "Live well."

Silver Ring waved his hand, said nothing, and vanished from the spot in an instant.

When the curfew arrived, the rain stopped completely, and Chang'an was quiet. Only the faint wailing of the Zhang brothers could be heard. Judging from their manner, they would probably cry for seven days and seven nights. Even the wolves on the grasslands would feel ashamed of their own cries.

Su Changying made a gesture towards the shadows, and a group of burly Northern Army men jumped over the wall and rushed into a courtyard.

Han Ze was left alone. He jumped up and down awkwardly a few times, then turned around sheepishly. He blinked, hurriedly turned around and pressed his backside against the wall. He smiled ingratiatingly at Su Changying, "Captain, I can't jump up. I'll go through the main gate."

As he spoke, he cursed his father and brothers.

Good heavens! He's just a spoiled brat, all he knows is gold, silver, jade, football, cockfighting, courtesans, and Hu women... After joining the Northern Army, he followed Zhu Li and pretended to be a nobody, but Zhu Li is a traitor, and now he's in the front row, so he can't take advantage of the situation anymore.

Well, to put it simply, they can't carry anything on their shoulders or lift anything with their hands.

The key issue is that he's a weakling who screams when something serious happens.

Since he came under the thumb of the living Yama, he has not had a single day without working until dawn, and he has not had a single day without backache and leg pain.

Han Ze thought about it, touched his head, and looked even more dejected; he was even losing hair…

Just then, the main gate burst open from the inside, and burly men from the Northern Army menacingly escorted the people inside out.

The burly man leading the group was named Zhuang Ying. He cupped his hands towards Su Changying and said loudly, "Captain, the bandits of Black Wind Mountain have been wiped out in one fell swoop. It was you who were the better strategist, using a large sum of money to lure them in. These bastards were blinded by money and became so audacious that they actually dared to sneak into Chang'an City."

Su Changying nodded slightly, "Take him to the Northern Army prison and interrogate him severely."

"Yes, sir!" Zhuang Ying's voice was exceptionally loud, full of energy.

Since Su Changying came to the Northern Army, they have been making merits as easily as eating and drinking. They have been helping the Court of Justice to catch criminals every single day. After all, it was Lord Zhou who made the greatest contribution. He was worried that Su Changying was only interested in his wife and would let Zhou Zhao climb over their Northern Army to get ahead.

In retrospect, it was simply his petty mind.

The Court of Justice has its merits, and the Northern Army has its victories.

"The rest of you, continue your night patrols. Anyone who violates the curfew will be severely punished."

As Su Changying spoke, she lightly leaped away from the scene.

Seeing this, Han Ze cleared his throat and climbed onto his horse.

"Brothers, let's go, let's start the night patrol! Don't worry, there was already a big case during the day, and I, Han Ze the Little Immortal, have calculated that tonight will be a peaceful and quiet night!"

"How about we make a bet? If I lose, I'll buy you drinks—we won't leave until we're drunk!"

The other Northern Army soldiers burst into laughter, "Old Han, why don't you call yourself 'Young Master' in front of Captain Su?"

"Go away! You're a coward, aren't you? You only realized that today? Commander Su is my boss!"

The crowd burst into laughter again.

Hearing this, Su Changying, who hadn't gone far, shook his head. He lightly floated down from the roof and landed by the window. With a gentle tremor, the window opened, and he flipped over and slipped into the small building.

This is Manmoji; he and Zhou Zhao had been here before.

There are many kinds of ink here, and even a special fragrance specially made by Min Zangzhi.

The room was pitch black; after curfew, the small building was empty, and the innkeeper's colleagues were all gone.

Su Changying looked towards the wall and saw various kinds of ink on the cabinet. Without hesitation, he picked them up from left to right and smelled them one by one.

And so it went, one after another, until they had smelled all the ink on the shelf, but they still couldn't find that fragrance.

Su Changying frowned, walked to the window and smelled the fresh air. The smell of earth after the rain hit his head. Standing here, he could see the roof of the Court of Justice. He thought that Zhou Zhao had most likely come out of the house again and gone to the Court of Justice.

Is this the kind of ink fragrance that I can't find in Manmoji?
As Su Changying was thinking, a scream suddenly rang out!
A thought struck him, and he jumped out of the window, speeding off in the direction of the sound!

That was Han Ze's voice.

The moment Su Changying arrived at the scene, she spotted Zhou Zhaotong and Liu Huang standing surrounded by Northern Army soldiers.

"Young Master Zhou, this is Coroner Ah Huang."

Zhou Zhao didn't turn around, but Liu Huang, upon hearing the words "Ah Huang, coroner," pressed his bamboo hat down further. Su Changying swore he could see pleasure in the back of Liu Huang's head behind the hat.

He walked forward and looked down at the ground. Han Ze was sitting in the middle of the road, looking utterly shocked.

Beside him lay an old woman dressed in simple clothes. Her full head of silver hair was neatly combed, and her short clothes were patched in many places, but they were washed clean and neat. She lay motionless on the ground, blood flowing from her seven orifices, looking particularly terrifying.

"He's not breathing. At first glance, it seems he died of poisoning. Ah Huang, examine the body carefully to see if it was murder or suicide. Han Ze, what happened to you?"

Hearing Zhou Zhao's familiar voice, Su Changying instantly softened.

They were both homeless, but the difference was that he had Zhou Zhao, who was his home.

"Sister Zhao!" Han Ze said, then slapped himself hard across the face!
“I really am a jinx! I said before that if there were cases during the day, there wouldn’t be any at night, but… I was riding my horse and turned around to talk to my brothers, so I wasn’t looking where I was going. I didn’t expect the horse to suddenly stop, and I lost my balance and fell off, and ended up sitting right on this corpse…”

God knows how horrified he was when he felt his lower body go limp and then looked up to see his hand covered in crimson blood.

"When I saw my hand covered in blood, before I could even react, I was face to face with this old lady..."

Han Ze spoke, on the verge of tears.

He should go find Wu Qingshan, and the two of them should go together to burn incense and worship the gods on a certain day.

"How could someone still throw a corpse into the street, so close to the Court of Justice?"

As Zhou Zhao listened to Han Ze's words, he thoughtfully looked toward the brightly lit gate of the Tingwei Temple not far away. The alley was indeed very close; one could see the activity at the gate of the Tingwei Temple from here.

"Ah Zhao, come here and look, there seems to be something on her chest."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhao moved closer to Ah Huang and saw a corner of hemp cloth peeking out from under the old woman's clothes.

Without thinking, she reached out and pulled, and the yellowed burlap was pulled out. Zhou Zhao looked closely and saw three scarlet characters written in blood: "Shao Qingqing".